Ionia County Chief Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger denied a motion Friday from Keith Thibeault's defense lawyer for a directive verdict in the murder case. Thibeault is accused of felony murder and child abuse in the first degree in the death of his 3-month-old twin son, Everette.

Mattie Cookmattie.cook@sentinel-standard.com

Ionia County Chief Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger denied a motion Friday from Keith Thibeault's defense lawyer for a directive verdict in the murder case. Thibeault is accused of felony murder and child abuse in the first degree in the death of his 3-month-old twin son, Everette.Criminal Defense Attorney Kevin Peterson made this motion based on the testimony Thursday that concluded that Everette Thibeault's hemorrhaging could have occurred any time within a 24 hour window; thus, this would be out of the time range for Keith Thibeault's case. The motion was denied and trial resumed with Dr. John Plunkett's testimony.

Innocence Project Witness

Plunkett is a general and forensic pathologist from Minnesota who became involved with the Innocence Project. This national project is a litigation and public policy organization who strive to free wrongly convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforms of the criminal justice to prevent future injustice. In addition, Plunkett was also deemed an expert in forensic pathology, with the subsets of anatomic, clinical and forensic pathology, by the court. Plunkett reviewed Everette's records and concluded the 3-month-old died as a consequence of an expanding subdural hematoma. The autopsy findings revealed a relatively large chronic subdural hematoma. Bleeding of this nature typically takes three to four weeks to develop, according to Plunkett. The autopsy also showed there was new bleeding in this hematoma, which does not require additional trauma and can occur naturally, said Plunkett. Peterson informed the witness of aspects of the testimony offered during Thursday's trial by Dr. Steven Guertin, who worked with Everette at Sparrow Lansing Hospital in March 2012. Plunkett argued that the rib fracture commentary provided by Guertin was inaccurate because injuries of this nature do not have to be from child abuse. Plunkett further cited evidence that twin gestation can cause the demineralization of bones, which could have been the case for Everette, who was a twin. Plunkett also disagreed with the findings of Guertin regarding retinal hemorrhaging. Plunkett conjectured that this hemorrhage was caused by an increase in cranial pressure. Plunkett arrived at this conclusion because there was no ventricular hemorrhage. Both Dr. Rudolph Castellani and Dr. John Bechinski who testified previously for the prosecution also found no indications of ventricular hemorrhaging. Based on this information and photographs of Everette's MRI scans, Plunkett argued that a lack of oxygen to the brain caused hypoxic ischemic damage. Since Everette's brain was without oxygen during the 20 minutes after cardiac arrest, the signs of this damage occurred not because of prior injury, but due to being revitalized, said Plunkett. Plunkett also disagreed with Guertin's argument that subdural hemorrhages are only caused by crushed skulls, high speed motor vehicle accidents and child abuse. Plunkett speculated that this list was missing a plethora of other causes. Some of the possible causes of subdural hemorrhaging are viral infection, bacterial infection, lumbar punctures and migraine headaches. These are primarily inherited and metabolic conditions that can cause this, but according to Plunkett, the most common is trauma. "Any impact trauma, whether accidental or inflicted can cause a subdural hematoma," Plunkett said. Plunkett added that this trauma can and does include incidents where children falling on carpet can still develop subdural hematomas. In addition, he added that this condition may not have been caused by shaking since there was no sign of external injury. In his experience, he would expect to see neck damage as a result of an impulsive whiplash motion caused through shaking. "The neck structurally will fail well below the level taken to kill a baby by shaking," said Plunkett, adding that the neck is the weak point in this situation. Furthermore, Plunkett added that Everette exhibited many of the signs of increased intercranial pressure. These include, but are not limited to, seizures, respiratory death, projectile vomiting, sudden death, increased head circumference and quitting breathing.

Cross-examination

Ionia County Prosecuting Attorney Ron Schafer argued in cross-examination that Guertin's testimony revealed that external signs of injury are indicative of child abuse. To this assertion by Schafer, Plunkett argued that the study he was referencing was not supported by a full array of evidence since the author had not included cases that did not conform to the hypothesis of the article. He also delved into Plunkett's history with performing autopsies of children. Plunkett confirmed that he has performed over 200 autopsies on children under the age of 2, with at least a dozen of those incidents involving head trauma. Schafer inquired into Plunkett's current employment. Plunkett's job is to travel the country testifying in cases where there is not enough factual evidence to convict an individual of a crime. For the purposes of this trial, Plunkett will be paid approximately $5,000. In his redirect, Peterson argued that since Plunkett had devoted many hours per week to this case over the span of months, he was actually being paid well below the typical hourly salary for a man with his education and background. For Plunkett, his goal is to help attorneys understand science. When a client is unable to pay for Plunkett's services both in research and in testimony, all of his work is done pro bono for that client; including travel and lodging expenses, research, and time spent in court. The trial will resume at 8 a.m. June 3 with testimony from more witnesses for the defense.